The Power of Mentorship

The Power of Mentorship

However, true mentoring is more than just answering occasional questions or providing ad hoc help. It is about an ongoing relationship of learning, dialogue, and challenge.

The person in receipt of mentorship may be referred to as a protégé (male), a protégée (female), an apprentice or, in recent years, a mentee. In order for mentorship to be most affective it should be relational.

Over the past decade years mentorship has become very popular. People are looking for mentors or life coaches. Normally there would be one person that would be chosen as a mentor. But today, people are chose multiply mentors based on their area of expertise. Mentorship is nothing new; it simple is something that people are now becoming more aware of. In order for us to get a great example of effective mentorship let’s look at Jesus. He mentor twelve disciples that made such an impact on this world that today we are still reaping the benefits of their work and feeling it effect.

As leaders we should not only seek others to follow us so that our visions come to pass. We should seek people to mentor. The difference between followers and mentees is that most followers never become greater than their leaders. They usual stay in a subordinate position. On the other hand mentees move on to becoming leaders of their generation. Because of the fear of being replaced or out shined, many leaders fail to impart what they know and invest in the success of those they lead. We must understand that the work of building the Kingdom of God can never be done by one man. No man can take the glory of the advancement of the Kingdom. I believe the reason why we have not seen as much success in the world concerning the church taking over the kingdoms of this world is because we have failed to develop successors. No church or ministry should die when a leader dies, retires or steps down because that leader should have planned for the future success of the ministry through mentoring the future leaders.

All through the bible we see examples of mentorship. Eli mentored Samuel, Paul mentored Timothy, Moses mentored Joshua and Jesus mentored His disciples. They were successful because they understood that one day there would be a ‘changing of the guards’. They knew that the assignment and vision was intergenerational and required skilled laborers and leaders so they mentored without fear of being replaced.

It’s time now for Christian leaders to take on the responsibility of mentoring those that will receive the baton. Don’t just prepare your biological children to succeed you. Prepare also those in your ministry that you can see God’s hand on to be the next leader in the ministry, community, city and nation. Mentoring others requires a relationship that both the mentor and mentee will experience a level of vulnerability. Becoming a mentor does not mean that you know everything.

It is simply the act of teaching others what you do know and helping them navigate successfuliy to their expected end with God’s hand guiding you. Getting rid of insecurities and fears and beginning to mentor others will allow the work of ministry to
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Shulamite Women Magazine is an online, interactive style magazine covering an array of issues today's believing women are faced with. We publish a generous variety of monthly columns, including topics which span from women's health and fitness, prayer and spirituality, to inner healing, family and relationships, marketplace and much more. Our interactive features include: a live prayer dropbox; facebook ' hot topics' mini-blogs; and our group text blasts.